West - Day Twenty-Eight - July 20, 2005

With the extreme heat conditions and advisories in the Las Vegas valley, I decided to get an early start for my drive across the desert to Santa Barbara. I ended up leaving Las Vegas at 8:15 am and my car measured 103 degrees on the temperature gauge. As I headed out of town, the temperature dropped below 100 degrees and rose back up to 103 as a high for the drive at one point. I took I-15 south the entire way to I-10 in San Bernardino. At the points where the road rose up over 4,000 feet in elevation, the temperature actually dropped into the high '80's briefly. I was just glad to get through the 3+ hour drive without getting above 105 degrees.



Once in the LA area, I decided to stop at the Ronald Reagan Library and Museum in Simi Valley. Very interesting place to walk through. I spent about an hour there and then headed up 101 towards Carpinteria (just outside of Santa Barbara) where I found a hotel room for the night. It was nice to be by the ocean where the temps were back down in the high '70's.